John Calvin Commentary Psalms 60:8

"Moab is my washpot; Upon Edom will I cast my shoe: Philistia, shout thou because of me." — Psalms 60:8 (ASV)

Moab is my wash-pot. In proceeding to speak of foreigners, he observes a wide distinction between them and his own countrymen. The posterity of Abraham he would govern as brethren, and not as slaves; but it was allowable for him to exercise greater severities upon the profane and the uncircumcised, to bring them under forcible subjection.

In this, he affords no precedent to conquerors who would inflict lawless oppression upon nations taken in war; for they lack the divine warrant and commission that David had, invested as he was not only with the authority of a king but also with the character of an avenger of the Church, especially of its more implacable enemies, who had thrown off every feeling of humanity and persisted in harassing a people descended from the same stock as themselves.

He remarks, in contempt of the Moabites, that they would be a vessel in which he should wash his feet, the washing of the feet being, as is well known, a customary practice in Eastern nations.

Likewise, he speaks of casting his shoe over Edom. This is expressive of reproach and intimates that, as Edom had once insulted the chosen people of God, so now it should be reduced to servitude.

What follows concerning Palestina is ambiguous. By some, the words are taken ironically, as if David would deride the vain boastings of the Philistines, who were constantly assaulting him with all the petulance they could command. And the Hebrew verb רוע, ruang, though it generally means to shout with triumph, also signifies to make a tumult, as soldiers do when they rush to battle.

Others, without supposing any ironical allusion, take the words as they stand and interpret them as meaning servile plaudits: that however much and obstinately they hated his dominion, they would be forced to hail and applaud him as conqueror. Thus, in Psalm 18:44, it is said, The sons of the strangers shall feign submission to me.